Having survived the interview, you would be dead wrong to think your mission is now to just sit and wait. While it can be said that good things come to those that wait, when it comes to job searches, being bold has even greater rewards.

The most common mistake job candidates make is not following up the interview with a Thank You email. This often overlooked courtesy is too great an opportunity to sell yourself for the job one more time and stand out from your competition.

Format:

Sending a thank you note to follow up after a job interview remains a fundamental necessity to a successful job search, but the delivery method has changed. While every hiring manager surely appreciates a beautiful hand-written note and may even be impressed with the fancy art museum stationary you chose, it has become necessary in the fast paced modern world to send an email rather than rely on snail mail. Hiring decisions can be made very quickly, and you have to move quickly, too.

Recipients:

Who should you send a note to? Go back to your interview and make a list off the people you spoke with. You should have gotten the business cards of the people you interviewed with, whether that was just the hiring manager, a panel of managers, the HR representative, your future co-workers, everyone.

Just be sure to send an individualized note to each person that addresses what you spoke about with them personally. Do NOT send the same ‘form’ letter to everyone. They will compare notes. It will give them the impression you don’t care and your conversation with them was not very memorable…not the impression you want to give.

Content:

Show some gratitude for them taking their time to speak with you. Remind them how your skills will benefit them, take the opportunity to clarify or expand on something you talked about in the interview, and say when you’ll follow up with a phone call. Tailor the content to your experience (like you did with your resume). For example, you can give them feedback on an issue discussed in the interview that you had time to think about and possibly add to a question they posed that you might not have been able to answer completely at the time. If you want to send an attachment of your updated 30-60-90 Day Plan, the simplicity of the email format allows this where a handwritten note does not.

They took the time to talk to you, now you need to take the time to thank them. Doing so will not only prove that are thoughtful, eager, and thorough, but that you are a candidate that stands out from the crowd and will probably continue to do so after being hired.